Internal-combustion engine and connecting rod structure therefor



Dec. 12, 1950 L 1 R CHILTON 2,533,558

INTERNAL-COMBUST'ION ENGINE AND CONNECTING ROD STRUCTURE THEREFOR Filed June 28, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet l 4 INVENTOR. n l l v RULAND :HIL-VDN.

f i zlib/Cj ATTCIRNEY v Filed Jupe 28. 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dc. fl'Z, 1950 R. CHILTON 2,533,558 INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE AND coNNEcTING ROD STRUCTURE THEREFOR INVENTOR. RDLAND CHILTCIN.

ATTEIRNEY Filed June 28, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Dec# 12, 1950 2,533,558

R. CHILTON INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE `AND CONNECTING ROD STRUCTURE THEREFOR 1 1E El INVENTOR.

' REILAND EHILTDN.

/l e 11. f

ATTEIRNEY Dec. 12, 195o 2,533,558

R. CHILTON INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE AND CONNECTING ROD STRUCTURE THEREFOR I5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 28, 1946 INVENTOR.

REILAND EHILTEIN.

ATTDRNEY Dec. l2, 1950 R. CHILTON 2,533,558

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE AND CONNECTING ROD STRUCTURE THEREFOR Filed June 28, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. EIL AND CHILTIIIN E@ Wm ATTDRNEY Patented Dec. 12, `1950 INTERNAL-COMBUSTIQN ENGINE AND CON- NECTING ROD STRUCTURE THEREFOR Roland Chilton, Ridgewood, N. J., assigner to Wright Aeronautical Corporation, a corporation of New Yqrk Application June 28, 1946, Serial No. 680,189

1 Claim.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and is a continuation in part of my copending application Serial No. 456,295, filed August 25, 1942, now Patent No. 2,404,828, issued July 30, 1946.

One object of this invention is to provide an improved arrangement of the main elements of the engine power section in order to provide a maximum of gross piston area displacement within minimum external engine dimensions. To this end, one feature of the invention comprises a novel connecting rod arrangement and construction.

A further object of this invention comprises a cylindrical-deck-type crankcase for a radial cylinder engine, thereby providing a simpler and more economical crankcase construction.

Further objects of the invention will become apparent upon reading the annexed detailed description in connection with the drawing in which:

Figure l is a radial sectional view through an engine embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is an axial sectional View along line 2-2 of Figure l;

Figure 3 is an axial section through a bank of cylinders;

Figure 4 is a radial sectional view through a modification of Figure l illustrating a cylindrical type crankcase;

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a plan view of the gasket provided in the modiiication of Figures 4 and 5 between each cylinder and the crankcase;

Figure 7 is a radial sectional view through a further modification of the invention; and

Figure 8 is a sectional view along line 8-8 of Figure 6.

In the following description, the term row of cylinders is used to denne a plurality of cylinders arranged radially1 around a common crankpin and the term bank denotes a plurality of cylinders alined axially of the crankshaft and individually cooperating with respective crankpins thereon. The number of rows of radial cylinders, i. e., the number of cylinders per bank is selected according to the power requirements but an even number of cylinders, and preferably six, is utilized for the individual radial rows in order to realize advantages flowing from an improved connecting rod disposition.

Referring rst to Figures 1 3, the engine comprises a crankshaft l] having a plurality of crankthrows equal in number to the number of engine cylinders per bank. That is, the crankshaft is provided with one crankpin I2 for each row of engine cylinders. Two similar connecting rod sets or assemblies are disposed in side-byside relation on each crankpin I2, each set comprising a master rod I5 having a detachable cap I3 secured thereto by screws I9. The main body portion of each master rod carries two knuckle pins 22-one on each side-of the master rod-so that the cap portion I8 of each master rod is free of knuckle pins. A pair of auxiliary connecting rods 24 are pivotally connected to each master rod, each upon one of the knuckle pins 22. The master rods and their auxiliary connecting rods are pivotally connected to Wrist pins 26 of pistons 28 slidable within the engine cylinders, the auxiliary connecting rods 2li serving the pistons disposed on opposite sides of the piston served by their master connecting rod. As illustrated, the upper three cylinders of each row are served by one master rod and its two auxiliary connecting rods and the three bottom cylinders of each row are served by the adjacent master rod with its two auxiliary connecting rods. Accordingly, the three upper cylinders of each row are oiset axially along the crankshaft relative to the three lower cylinders of the same row by an amount equal to the oifset of the side-by-side master connecting rods.

It is well known that one of the prime limitations on engine diameter is the connecting rod length necessary to avoid excessive rod angularity and that, for a given maximum rod angularity and in a connecting rod assembly comprising a master connecting rcd with link or auxiliary connecting rods articulated thereto, the length required for the link rods is dictated by those engaging knuckle pins most remote from the master rod. In this invention, only two knuckle pins are used on each master rod, and these, being adjacent to the master rod, require only a minimum length of auxiliary conecting rod to keep within the prescribed angularity limits. Such threeway articulated rods are individually old in the art, but their disposition side by side on a common crankpin in a -cylinder radial disposition is new as far as I am aware. It is also old to use two oppositely disposed co-planar master rods of the so-called straddle type where one master rod embraces and articulates upon the crankpinbearing of the other, but such arrangements result in dissimilar master rods wherein it is diiiicult to achieve the desired rigidity without undue bulk and weight. Also, bearing troubles have resulted lin the use of these oppositely disposed co-planar .rigid with the crankcase 30. crankcase cylinder openings are chamfered for vvengine as small as possible. -comprises cam shafts S2 driven from the -engine engine cylinders.

master rods wherein one master rod bearing is wrapped around the other.

The detachable cap feature of the simple and identical three-way rods of this invention permits the use of a one-piece crankcase and a onepiece crankshaft. The crankcase S consists of a single unitary tubular member having a circular bore 32 into which bearing diaphragms 34 are shrunk and preferably brazed. These bearing diaphragms have large bore bearings 36 supporting disc type journals 38 of the crankshaft l which is made in one piece. In Figure 1, the dot-and-dash line 40 indicates the path of travel of the center of the crankpin. Counterweight members 42 having end location flanges 44 are secured to each end of the crankshaft. It will be seen that by detaching one of these counterweight members and the connecting rods, the crankshaft may be disassembled axially through the bearings 36. This construction affords a virtually one-piece crankcase which is more rigid 'and lighter than the conventional split crank- -case involving bolted joints.

Each cylinder bank comprises a unitary block 46l secured to hat decks 48 of the polygonal crankcase by through bolts threaded into tapped bosses 52 in the bearing diaphragme 34, whereby these are further secured and made The edges of the the reception of a soft ring gasket seal 54. The cylinders of each bank are enclosed in a water jacket Eliclosed by cover plates 5,8 `and each cylinder bore is provided with a shrunk-.in .lining 60.

The engine is provided with a special low valve gear in order to keep the-outerfdiameter of the rhis val-ve gear ycrankshaft and disposed between-each bank of Each cam shaft -62 isdisposed within a housing Y611 and is provided with cam lobes 66 for operation of one valve (i3-.of each cylinder ofthe adjacent cylinder banks. Briey,

the Valve'gear for each valve vcomprises a .tappet member-fill with which-a push rod l2 is engageable. A rocker member lt has offset arms 1.6

. and 18, the arm V'bein-g pivotal-ly connected with the push rod 'i2 and the other arm 'E8 having Aa push-.pull connection with a valve stem. In

addition, a spring 39 extends, across each cylinder and acts against the push rods l2 for both valvesV 68 -of -said cylinder for Yurging both said rvalves in a closing direction. The ydetails of this valve gear vare more fully disclosed in yapplicants.afore- .mentioned co-pending application.

Inwardly of the cam shafts 62, in alternate intercylinder .bank spaces, are three inlet manifolds 82 and three exhaust manifolds 84. In this connection,.it should be noted vthat the inlet ports of adjacent cylinder banks .face each other .andthe outlet ports of adjacent cylinder banks face each `otherso that each inlet and exhaust manifold v4'accommodates the cylinders. of the two adjacent cylinder banks. With this .ar-

rangement, the .inlet and exhaust manifoldsare disposed .in alternate intercylinder :bank spaces andare vdisposed inwardly of the cam shafts in each Vof these spaces. Figures 4 .and 5 .disclose a modified crankcase `.(xinstruction., Acylindrical deck type crankcase '-metalnportion of the gasket.

sible to chamfer the edge of the cylinder openings in the crankcase for the reception of a soft ring gasket, as in the usual polygonal crankcase construction (see gasket 54 in Figure 1).

Figures V3 and 4 disclose a radial type engine construction similar to Figure 1 but in which a cylindrical deck type crankcase 9u has been sub- .stituted for the polygonal deck type crankcase. The cylindrical crankcase is provided with cylinder openings 9! about which the cylinder banks 92 are saddled and secured by bolts 93. To this end, the surface of the cylinder banks 92 facing Vthe crankcase necessarily has a cylindrical contour similar 'to that vof the adjacent outer crankcasesurface. .A gasket 913, having a sheet metal portion 96, is provided between the lcrankcase .93 and the cylinder banks, thereby providing a metal-to-metal'contact for absorbing the stresses "between the crankcase and cylinder banks. The

rgasket 94, best seen in Figures 4 and I5, ispro- .vided with a peripheral portion 38 of rubber or other `resilient material vulcanized to the metal portion 96. This rubber portion in its unstressed condition may have a circular cross section'having a diameter greater than the thickness of the fsheet metal portion. However, this rubber- .like `portion 9B .may have any appropriate Cross section provided that in its unstressed condi,- tion it has a maximum thickness greater Ythan .the thickness of the a't metal portion 95. Consequently, when the cylinder banks are .bolted to the crankcase. the rubber-like portion-i5. lettened to thereby provide yan ladequate Seal. Except for the above'described crankcase construction, the engine illustrated in Figures .3 and 4 is similar to that illustrated in Figure 1.

As illustrated and described, the ygasket '94 is used between the cylinders of an engine and the fcrankcase to which the cylinders are secured.

Obviously, however., the :gasket is of general .application and is not limited to this specific use. Also, the rubber-like material may 'be .secured to the inner, instead of to the outer, edge of the InV the construction illustrated'inFigur-es .3, '-i and 5, it is-essen tial that the rubber-.like material rbe disposed along the outer edge of the metallic gasketportion in order to prevent oil leakage outwardly from the vcylinder hold-down bolts 93.

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate a further modification ofthe inventionv comprising a slipper-type connectingrod construction in `lieu -of the previous- -ly described'master rod construction. InFigur-es the crankp'ins il@ are eachsecured to the crankshaft by a pair of semi-circular mounting segments |20 which in turn are secured to the crankshaft by screws |2|. Each bearing mounting segment |20 is semi-circular and is diametrically opposed to and engages the side of the inner' race of its roller bearing opposite to the side engaged by the other mounting segment of said bearing. Also, because of the one piece crankshaft construction, the inner races of the intermediate roller bearings I I9 have an internal diameter slightly larger than the diameter of its crankshaft journal in order to permit assembly of the roller bearings about their journals. The space between each of these roller bearings and its journal is iilled by semi-cylindrical flanges 223 extending from the mounting segments |20.

The outer races of the roller bearings ||9 are tted within bearing diaphragms |22 extending into and secured to the crankcase |24. Also, as in the previous modifications, cylinder holddown bolts |28 thread into suitable bosses in the bearing diaphragms |24 whereby the cylinder banks, crankcase and bearing diaphragms comprise a rigid structure. As illustrated, the crankcase |22 is a one-piece cylindrical-type crankcase similar to that of Figure 3. Obviously, however, a polygonal crankcase, similar to that of Figures l and 2, may be substituted in Figures 7 and 8.

Each crankpin H6 is surrounded by split rings |28, |39 and |32, the two halves of each ring being secured together by bolts |34. Three similar connecting rods |30 have their shank portions extending outwardly between the end ring |28 and the intermediate ring |30 with the connecting rod slipper portions |38 slidably tted between the crank pin I I6 and the rings |28 and |30. A second set of three connecting rods |31, similar to the rods |36, have their shank portions extending outwardly between the end ring |32 and the intermediate ring |30 with their slipper portions |39 slidably fitted between the crankpin H6 and the rings |30 and |32. The intermediate ring |30 is suiiciently wide so that the slippers |38 and |39 of the two sets of connecting rods do not extend beyond the middle of the ring thereby avoiding interference between the slippers.

With this construction, each crankpin ||6 has two sets of connecting rods |36 and |31 and, as best seen in Figure 7, the one set of connecting rods |36 is connected to alternate pistons I|2 of a cylinder row while the other set of connecting rods |31 is connected to the other piston 2 of the same row. Accordingly, adjacent cylinders of each `cylinder row are offset by an amount equal to the oiset of the associated two sets of connecting rods. Also, as illustrated in Figure 1, the slipper portions each subtend an arc of somewhat less than 120 to permit sliding movement between the slippers |38 or |39 of each set of connecting rods during engine operation.

In multi-cylinder radial engines having more than three cylinders in a row, it has heretofore been difcult to provide suiiicient arc of embracement of the connecting rod slippers with their crankpins without resorting to a relatively complicated construction. However, with the aforedescribed construction of Figures 7 and 8, ap-

plicant provides a slipper rod construction for six cylinders radially disposed about a common crankpin in which each slipper has a similar simple construction and has an arc of embracement sub-tending an angle only slightly less than In the absence of the aforedescribed alternate offset of the slipper rods |30 and |31, slipper rods serving six radially disposed cylinders from a common crankpin would only have an arc of embracement with said crankpin of less than 60. Another novel feature of applicants slipper rod construction comprises the arrangement whereby each intermediate slipper ring |30 cooperates with both adjacent sets of slipper rods. In addition, the split construction of the rings |28, |30 and |32 permits the use of a one-piece crankcase and a one-piece crankshaft as in the modifications of Figures 1-3 and Figure 4.

While I have described my invention in detail in its present preferred embodiment, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding my invention, that various changes and modications may be made therein Without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. I aim in the appended claim to cover all such modications.

I claim as my invention:

In an internal combustion engine; a crankshaft having a crankpin; a row of six radially disposed engine cylinders symmetrically spaced about said crankshaft; pistons slicable in said cylinders; a pair of master connecting rods offset side-by-side on said crankpin and each connected to one of said pistons diametrically opposed to the other master connecting rod piston; and two pairs of auxiliary connecting rods, one pair for each of said master connecting rods, the auxiliary connecting rods of each pair being pivotally connected to their master connecting rod on opposite sides of the shank of their master connecting rod and being connected to the pistons disposed immediately adjacent to and on opposite sides of their master connecting rod piston, the three pistons served by one master connecting rod and its pair of auxiliary connecting rods being oiset relative to the other three pistons to an extent equal to said master connecting rod offset.

ROLAND CHILTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 368,189 Carter Aug. 16, 1887 761,325 Schier May 31, 1904 879,289 Mayo et al. Feb. 18, 1908 1,394,419 Larson Oct. 18, 1921 1,626,457 Foner Apr. 26, 1927 1,670,294 Angle May 22, 1928 1,708,901 Royce Apr. 9, 1929 1,962,246 Leak June 12, 1934 1,980,335 Hewitt et al. Nov. 13, 1934 2,005,000 Miller June 18, 1935 2,088,863 McClelland Aug. 3, 1937 

